The goal of this study was to verify if effortful control contributed to the progression from substance use in adolescence to problematic substance use in early adulthood, above and beyond the contribution of early-onset substance use and peer support for substance use. As expected, we found that in general, higher levels of effortful control in adolescence were related to lower levels of problematic substance use in early adulthood. This relationship held for tobacco and marijuana use. These findings are generally consistent with the hypothesis that a low level of effortful control and associated self-regulation is associated with development of addictive behavior (Miller and Brown 1991).
